Month: June 2009

We’re living in the knowledge age. If you doubt that statement at all, read what Wikipedia has to say:

The world’s technological capacity to store information grew from 2.6 exabytes in 1986 to 15.8 in 1993, over 54.5 in 2000, and to 295 exabytes in 2007. This is the informational equivalent to less than one 730-MB CD-ROM per person in 1986, roughly 4 CD-ROMs per person in 1993, 12 CD-ROMs per person in the year 2000, and almost 61 CD-ROMs per person in 2007. Piling up the imagined 404 billion CD-ROMs from 2007 would create a stack from the earth to the moon and a quarter of this distance beyond.

Add to this over abundance of information the economic pressures brought to bear on business and we have the perfect storm of leaner, meaner, just-in-time workplaces requiring extreme mental agility.

What is the new skill set – the one that will differentiate business athletes from the rest of the pack? It is the ability to recognize and make use of essential bits of data from a never-ending stream of information coupled with rapid task switching.

The knowledge age creates new challenges for leaders. How do we measure productivity in knowledge workers? How do we ensure our important messages make it through the endless stream of data and are acted upon? How do we keep people engaged in learning when their brains are overloaded with torrents of information?

Today’s leader must excel at rapid learning and develop systems to capture and retrieve increasingly large amounts of data. We need to help others learn these skills so that we are developing strength and good succession pipelines within our organizations.

Like this:

If you are unemployed, looking for a job is probably your new full time occupation. There’s no getting around it. You are now a sales person and you are your product.

Likely your first step was to tackle your resume and perhaps you have made a few phone calls to friends to see who might be able to help. Here’s the question: Are you harnessing the power of social media? Social networking is often overlooked yet it can be your most effective career management tool. Continue reading →

Like this:

If you’re keeping up with texting acronyms and initialisms, you know that TMI stands for ‘too much information’. The ease with which we can learn about each other through social networking helps cut through geographic and social barriers and it also creates a new responsibility for those of us who participate. That is, setting objectives and boundaries for the information we give out.

Remember the marketing phrase “enquiring minds want to know”? That came from a tabloid advertising campaign in the late 70’s and 80’s. We may not hear the phrase very often anymore but it certainly retains its relevance today. The Internet and social media have increased our appetite for personal knowledge.

There are certain pieces of information that should not be made public such as your full date of birth and home address. Identity theft is rampant enough – you don’t want to assist these people in finding your vital information. Take a walk through your social networking sites with an eye toward privacy and TMI.

For those who like to post really personal photos on Facebook (the kind you would not want business associates or prospective employers to see) there is an easy to use function that allows us to have our cake and eat it too. Simply create lists and designate your friends to each list according to how much and what type of information you want each category of friends to see. For example, you might designate a certain photo album available only to friends you have placed on your “family” list.

I’m sure by now you have Googled your name at least once to see what’s out there about you. But did you know that you can also set up a free Google Alert so you are notified every time your name pops up online? Check it out at www.google.com/alerts. Remember to set up an alert for all the possible spellings of your name and user names.

And one last site to mention is StepRep. This is where you can manage and build your cyber presence by tracking and rating your online mentions. I just signed up today. It was easy although you do have to have a Google account to get started. According to the StepRep tutorial they will take the instances you label as “positive” and link them to any social networking site you designate thereby increasing your positive hits and reducing the impact of the stuff you’d rather not see floating out there in cyber space associated with your name.